Nouméa Magenta Airport (; ) is a

domestic airport A domestic airport is an airport that handles only flights within the same country. Domestic airports do not have customs and immigration facilities and so cannot handle flights to or from a foreign airport. These airports often have short r ...

on the main island of

New Caledonia New Caledonia ( ; ) is a group of islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean, southwest of Vanuatu and east of Australia. Located from Metropolitan France, it forms a Overseas France#Sui generis collectivity, ''sui generis'' collectivity of t ...

, an

overseas collectivity The French overseas collectivities ( abbreviated as COM) are first-order administrative divisions of France, like the French regions, but have a semi-autonomous status. The COMs include some former French overseas colonies and other French ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

in the southwest

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

. The airport is east-northeast of the city centre of

Nouméa Nouméa () is the capital and largest city of the French Sui generis collectivity, special collectivity of New Caledonia and is also the largest Francophone city in Oceania. It is situated on a peninsula in the south of New Caledonia's main i ...

, the capital, approximately southeast of

La Tontouta International Airport La Tontouta International Airport, also known as Nouméa – La Tontouta International Airport (; ), is the main international airport in New Caledonia, an Overseas France, overseas collectivity of France in the southwest Pacific Ocean, as well as ...

. In 2017, 428,679 passengers used the airport.

Air Calédonie Société Calédonienne de Transports Aériens, trading as Air Calédonie, is the domestic airline of the French collectivity of New Caledonia. Its headquarters are on the grounds of Magenta Airport in the territory's capital of Nouméa, from ...

has its head office on the airport property.Air Calédonie Contacts
"

. Retrieved on 2 October 2009.

History

* 1931: First

biplane A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While ...

flight on the beach in Magenta, located on the east coast of Nouméa. * 1934: Creation of . * 1942: Arrival of the Poppy Force, a

US Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of the United Stat ...

division commanded by General

Alexander Patch Alexander McCarrell Patch (23 November 1889 – 21 November 1945) was a senior United States Army Officer (armed forces), officer who fought in World war, both world wars, rising to rank of General (United States), general. During World War ...

, making New Caledonia one of the main Pacific airbases for the US Army. A military airfield is built along the beach in Magenta by

Seabees United States Naval Construction Battalions, better known as the Navy Seabees, form the U.S. Naval Construction Forces (NCF). The Seabee nickname is a heterograph of the initial letters "CB" from the words "Construction Battalion". Dependi ...

of Naval Construction Battalion 11 on the site of a former racetrack. * 1956: Opening of the airfield to civilian air traffic, two years after the creation of Transpac, the first domestic New Caledonian airline and forerunner of , which has regular flights between Nouméa, the Isle of Pines and the

Loyalty Islands Loyalty Islands Province (, ) is one of the three top-level administrative subdivisions of New Caledonia. It encompasses the Loyalty Islands () archipelago in the Pacific Ocean, located northeast of the New Caledonian mainland of Grande Terre. ...

. * 1970s: Construction of the first terminal, with a capacity of 100,000 people. * 2001: Completion and opening of the new terminal, increasing capacity to over 300,000 people.

Airlines and destinations

Statistics

References

External links

Official site
(French) {{DEFAULTSORT:Noumea Magenta Airport Airports in New Caledonia Magenta Airport Seabees

History

Airlines and destinations

Statistics

See also

References

External links